Online Marketing Business - Do I need PI and/or Public Liability Insurance?

seachto7

Hi all,

I was at a meeting the other day with the county enterprise board in relation to setting up a business / back to work scheme. My business, or potential business relates to online marketing. I set up the site a few months back, but alas, things have not been going well for me so far...

Anyhow, I was going through the documentation I will need to complete, and the lady mentioned I would need to get a quote for PI and/or Public Liability insurance?

Public Liability (I think) in case I was going to meet clients. I will be offering PPC/SEO type services, all done online, so not sure why I would need this?

I theory I would meet clients at their place of business, or in a cafe/hotel, as I work from home.

Professional Indemnity in case I was able to access websites with confidential information. This could well be the case if I had FTP access, but not sure if I would be getting very confidential information....

Not sure what to do here. On the one hand, I may need to tick a box for the social welfare / county enterprise board, but I can't afford to be shelling out a lot of money for insurance cover I don't really need.....

HellFireClub

First thing, you are wasting your time having any involvement with a County Enterprise Board, they are worse than useless, made up of politically appointed gullies who have never started up a business in their entire lives.

Secondly, I wouldn't get caught up with insurance in your case, it's hard to see how you would need it to be honest.

was.deevey

If you are in the business of offering advice or assistance in any form to clients you should have PI cover.

If you are in the business of meeting clients at all you should have PL cover.

It should be pretty cheap to set that up, a small office policy should be able to offer PI / PL combined for a few hundred a year and cover things like your sites going down, loss of earnings, accidental damage to the likes of your computer systems, data retrieval etc..

Have a chat with a good broker...and make sure you have answers for everything on the form.

egan007

no

BusinessForums

I would never deal with people who didn't have insurance. Regardless if they thought they needed it or not.

From a personal point of view, if I was in a business where I thought I didn't need insurance. I would at the very least get the most very basic insurance policy. It is easier to say YES I have insurance, than try explain why you dont.

At the very least it will raise some eyebrows.

egan007

Look, if this guy/gal is a start up business introducing costs that are not absolutely necessary is a sure fire way to die quickly. Startup = low cost or death.

Get your some t&c's and a disclaimer and start working and earning money.
When Loyds need you and you have more money than sence, you should make sure you are heavily insured - for the moment joes bread van ltd does not require you to insure against losses on their 4 page website.

There are plenty of arguments agains what i'm saying - and they are fine...read them...take note...then ignore them and start selling.
If you don't sell you don't have a business.

BusinessForums

Insurance shouldn't be looked upon as an idle expense. It should be looked upon as a means of protecting you and your business.

End of story.

Acoshla

BusinessForums wrote: »

Insurance shouldn't be looked upon as an idle expense. It should be looked upon as a means of protecting you and your business.

End of story.

But if the OP won't be meeting with clients on/in his own property why should he have an unnecessary fee added to his startup costs? If it is to be mostly done online or possibly on the customers' own premises then why would the OP need PL insurance, I can't see how at any point in that process that he could be liable if something happened a customer?

I have PL insurance because I have people on my own premises and I need it for stalls at markets, originally I didn't do either of these things and I didn't need it then.

BusinessForums

Insurance for any business should not be considered mandatory. At the very least it says I am a professional, I am serious about my business, I treat this as a serious project/venture.

Insurance is there to cover any risks or pitfalls the business may find itself with/exposed to, Online advertising, marketing, promotion can be very exposed to the above. Misspelling, typos and omissions can all lead to unhappy customers/clients.

As was explained to me, when I started out in business. If you call a meeting, regardless of where it is, put your laptop bag on floor and someone trips over your bag...you are responsible. Simple as.

Better to have the insurance than to be looking for it.

seachto7

Thanks for all the replies. I know a few people working in the same area as I hope to be, and they don't have it, but they don't have a "premises"..
Not sure what to make of insurance for my car (using it for work)...

To the poster giving out about the County Enterprise Board, I have to go through them for what I am doing...It's in partnership with the social welfare, so my hands are a bit tied for now...